Mom Makes Business Dream Come True

First Coast News:

Carin Walling is a working mom. Her day begins at 7:30 a.m. when she wakes up with her toddler twin daughters, Callie and Henley.

“We do breakfast together,” says Walling. “Sometimes I go to the gym in the mornings and other times we play until nap time. When they lay down at nap time, that’s work time for me.”

Walling works from home as her own boss. She opened a children’s store. But not the type of physical store you may be thinking of.

“I wanted to have a physical store and it didn’t work out, he (her husband) said why don’t you do this whole thing online,” says Walling.

So she started the online children’s boutique, 2 Sweet Sisters. She says the started up was relatively easy. She paid another work at-home mom to design her website.

Plus, many of the manufacturers didn’t require her to buy a supply of products up front. So there was very little start up cost.

Walling acts as the online middle man for companies that make children’s goods.

When a customer makes an order on her website then she contacts the manufacturer of those products. “Most of the time the manufacturer packs it up and ships the items directly to the customer,” says Walling.

And that means she doesn’t have to fill her home with products to be shipped out.

“I have one bookshelf of merchandise and that’s it,” says Walling. “I think my husband would go nuts if I had more than that.”

Walling is part of a growing number of parents looking for creative ways to be successful in business without sacrificing time with their children.